[10/01/18 - 01:53 PM] From Earthlings to Martians: Season 2 of National Geographic's "Mars" Portrays What Life Could Really Be Like Once We Settle On the Red Planet The series returns Monday, November 12 at 9:00/8:00c with a
six-episode arc continuing with last season's unique hybrid format.
[via press release from National Geographic Channel]
FROM EARTHLINGS TO MARTIANS: SEASON 2 OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S "MARS" PORTRAYS WHAT LIFE COULD REALLY BE LIKE ONCE WE SETTLE ON THE RED PLANET
The Acclaimed Hybrid Series, Executive Produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard,
Returns Monday, November 12, with Veteran Showrunner Dee Johnson at the Helm
Expert 'Big Thinkers' Including Elon Musk, Bill Nye, Ellen Stofan, Michio Kaku, Andy Weir,
Leland Melvin and Stephen Petranek Weigh in on the Conflicts Between Science and Industry
As Humans Terraform This Brave New World
The prospect of Mars has never been more palpable. The idea once was considered science fiction, but
in the blink of an eye, we'll be there. Season 2 of National Geographic's acclaimed series MARS - dubbed
impressive, inspiring and scientifically honest by critics - returns Monday, November 12, at 9/8c, with a
six-episode arc continuing with last season's unique hybrid format: alternating scripted and documentary
sequences to predict what life will be like on the Red Planet forecasted by what's happening today on
Earth. MARS has a special simulcast premiere on Nat Geo Mundo.
National Geographic partners again with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Michael Rosenberg and Justin
Wilkes of Imagine Entertainment, as well as executive producers Jon Kamen and Tommy Turtle of
RadicalMedia to envision what might happen when Earthlings become the planet's first Martians.
This season on MARS, the story delves into the boundaries between science and industry on an isolated,
unforgiving frontier. Throughout history, there's been a constant tug of war between human motivations
and interests with profitability on one end of the spectrum and exploration on the other. When becoming
interplanetary, can humans break the chain, or are they doomed to repeat the same mistakes in this new
world?
MARS picks up five years after the conclusion of Season 1, following the successful maiden mission to
the Red Planet when the original International Mars Science Foundation (IMSF) crew struggled to safely
land on and create an initial settlement. It's now the year 2042, and IMSF has established a fully-fledged
colony, Olympus Town, but they cannot finance the Mars expedition alone. Doors of opportunity have
swung wide open to the private sector, but tensions arise among original mission-driven scientists and
miners sent by the for-profit corporation, Lukrum Industries, which create a new world of challenges for
everyone on the Red Planet.
On the scripted front, the series tackles seemingly everyday occurrences - pregnancy, break ups, new
romances, epidemics, breakdowns, power outages, injuries, exercise, mealtimes and socializing. But
when they occur approximately 34 million isolated miles from Earth - where there is no escape - they
are anything but ordinary. And while the mission-driven scientists, who first set foot on Red Planet nine
years earlier, initially are alarmed by their new neighbors, some soon find themselves understanding and
comingling with 'the other side.' Life on Mars intensifies when scientists who are searching for new life
get upended by Lukrum's mining mission; the worst natural disaster hits home; the first-generation
Martian baby enters the new world; and when loved ones draw their last breath.
The MARS cast is comprised of returning actors from Season 1 along with several newcomers, including
Jihae (Mortal Engines), Jeff Hephner (Chicago Med, Code Black) and Esai Morales (Ozark, NYPD Blue).
On the documentary front, present-day vignettes draw parallels to the future happenings on Mars by
looking at some of the dire issues facing Earth's last frontier - the Arctic. This includes a spectrum of
events that currently are compromising life on Earth - and could plague us in the future as we become
an interplanetary species: drilling, glacial melting, rising sea level and indigenous health epidemics which
surface when the permafrost melts.
On-camera experts - dubbed our 'Big Thinkers' - once again navigate the audience through the struggles
and opportunities awaiting humans on Mars. This elite group includes some of the biggest names in
human exploration, technology, the environment and social science, such as Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO;
Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian and Artemis; Ellen Stofan, former NASA Chief; Leland
Melvin, former NASA astronaut; Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and futurist; Antonia Juhasz, leading
oil and energy expert; Naomi Klein, bestselling author, activist and award-winning journalist on climate
change; Casey Dreier, director of space policy at the Planetary Society; Lucianne Walkowicz,
Astrobiology Chair at the Kluge Center of the Library of Congress and astronomer at the Adler
Planetarium; and Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society.
In addition to the Big Thinkers, MARS' scientific advisors give the scripted drama some heft. In this role,
Stephen Petranek, award-winning author of How We'll Live on Mars; Mae Jemison, former NASA
astronaut; and Robert Braun, professor of aerospace engineering sciences at University of Colorado
Boulder, guide the futuristic story on the Red Planet, assuring that everything is grounded in reality.
"Last season, we envisioned getting to Mars, so now, we're shifting the conversation to what will happen
once we're on a planet where everything is alien and extraordinary," says MARS Season 2 showrunner
Dee Johnson (Nashville, Boss, ER). "Mars is a pressure cooker -- there's a constant push-pull between
science and industry, and as a result, emotions run high. Although conflicting, their agendas are not
mutually exclusive; with the advancement of science and exploration also comes industry and money
making."
"The series underscores how human nature doesn't change when we become Martians, but navigating
how we harness our instincts, emotions and behaviors on Mars is uncharted territory," says Justin Wilkes,
co-creator and executive producer of MARS, RadicalMedia. "MARS delves into how we'll cope with
heartbreak, mental health, illness, contamination, death, the first pregnancy and first baby on Mars,
natural disasters and the quest for the planet's natural resources, like water, which we often take for
granted on Earth."
"In MARS, everything as simple as the quotidian, like personal hygiene and meals, requires greater effort
and is exponentially more difficult in this foreign frontier of limited resources where new rules are often
written on the fly," says Stephen Petranek, MARS' co-executive producer, scientific advisor and Big
Thinker. "Leaving Earth insures long-term human survival, and we have the technology and spirit to get
there, but what will it actually take to live there? MARS is a six-to-nine month trip one way... so before we
get there, we better make sure we can permanently make it our own."
Directors Stephen Cragg (Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder) and Ashley Way (Doctor Who,
Homeland) join returning director Everardo Gout (Days of Grace) for the second season.
MARS is produced by Imagine Entertainment and RadicalMedia for National Geographic. For Imagine
Entertainment, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Michael Rosenberg are executive producers and Justin
Wilkes is co-creator and executive producer. For RadicalMedia, Jon Kamen and Tommy Turtle are the
executive producers. Dee Johnson serves as the executive producer and showrunner with Taimi
Arvidson and Meredith Kaulfers serving as supervising producers, and Jen Isaacson is the co-producer.
# # #
About National Geographic Partners LLC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is
committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio
of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel,
Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented
assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media
platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events,
archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has
been the core purpose of National Geographic for 128 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing
boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172
countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the non-profit
National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For
more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
About Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment was founded in 1986 by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard create independently produced
feature films, television programs and other original programming. Imagine Entertainment has been honored with
more that 60 prestigious awards including 43 Academy Award nominations and 187 Emmy(R) award nominations.
Past productions include the Academy Award Best Picture winner A Beautiful Mind, as well as Grammy Award Best
Film winner The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years. Additional films include Get on Up, Rush, J.
Edgar, Frost/Nixon, American Gangster, The Da Vinci Code, Apollo 13, 8 Mile, Liar, Liar,
Backdraft, and Parenthood to name a few. Upcoming films include The Spy Who Dumped Me staring Mila Kunis and
Kate McKinnon and the documentary Pavarotti. Television productions include Fox's Empire, Shots
Fired and the 24 franchise; NatGeo's Genius anthology series and Breakthrough; NBC's Parenthood and Friday
Night Lights; Fox's and Netflix's Arrested Development, as well as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, for which
Howard and Grazer won the Emmy(R) for Outstanding Mini-Series. Upcoming television productions include the fifth
season of Arrested Development on for Netflix. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer began their collaboration in 1985 with
the hit comedies Night Shift and Splash, and continue to run Imagine Entertainment as Executive Chairmen.
About RadicalMedia
RADICALMEDIA is an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Peabody Award-winning studio whose work includes the Oscarwinning
documentary, The Fog of War, Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning film, What Happened, Miss Simone?,
Oscar-nominated, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Emmy-winning Under African
Skies, Keith Richards: Under the Influence, Whitey: The US vs. James J. Bulger, Hamilton's America and the SXSW
award-winning May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers. Recent television credits include Abstract: The Art of
Design, Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders, Stan Against Evil, American Divided, Iconoclasts, Oprah's
Master Class, Bobby Kennedy for President, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, The
Fourth Estate and both MARS and the Emmy-nominated, Year Million for National Geographic.
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